136 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Bernon Ar- 

 rives 



House of 

 Worship 



AiCompact 

 Village 



Du Tuffeau 

 Magistrate 



Some of the 

 Families 



lying within the boundaries of Oxford. A little later he 

 set out from Boston accompanied by Joseph Dudley, then 

 Chief Justice of Massachusetts and one of the principal 

 proprietors of the Oxford lands, who desired to show all 

 courtesy to the powerful and agreeable Huguenot by put- 

 ting him in formal possession of his property. Bernon' s 

 presence gave a fresh impetus to the thriving little vil- 

 lage. He at once set about causing needed improvements 

 to be made ; built a grist-mill and a saw-mill to utilize 

 the excellent water-power, and in many other ways pro- 

 vided for the comfort and welfare of the colonists. It is 

 significant to note that among his earliest enterprises on 

 American soil was the erection of a commodious "tem- 

 ple" for the worship of God. Previous to his coming, 

 religious exercises had been conducted in minister Bon- 

 ders "great house," which stood a little apart from the 

 village, but owing to the number of new arrivals it was 

 no longer large enough to serve as a place of gathering. 



The village itself was built in the compact style to 

 which the refugees had been accustomed in their native 

 country. All in all, the town probably contained between 

 seventy and eighty inhabitants during the second year of 

 its establishment. Gabriel Bernon was only an occasional 

 resident, spending the greater part of his time in Boston. 

 After Bernon, du Tuffeau was probably the most impor- 

 tant personage connected with the village. Besides acting 

 as Bernon' s agent he was the village magistrate, commis- 

 sioned by the General Court in 1689 to "have Authority 

 for Tryall of small Causes not exceeding forty shillings, 

 and to act in all other matters as any other Assistant may 

 doe, as the Lawes of this Colony direct." Andre Sigour- 

 uey was likewise a leader in the community. His ap- 

 pointment as constable of "the French Plantation," an 

 office which carried with it considerable respect and in- 

 fluence, shows how highly he was regarded by liis fellow 

 citizens. With Sigourney was his wife, Charlotte Pairan, 

 and five children, who fled with him from La Rochelle 



